The present invention relates to the manufacture of articles of wear and in particular to costume jewelry, wearing apparel and sundry items capable of exuding a sustained release of fragrance.
Perfumes and fragrances have been widely used by both men and women by the direct application to their bodies and/or clothes. It would, however, be desirable to provide perfumes and pleasant odors directly on various products such as apparel jewelry, packages or sundry items on a sustained and generally lasting basis. In addition, it would be advantageous to provide such products with fragrances which correspond to their inherent characteristics or forms providing a more realistic attribute thereto.
It is the object of the present invention to provide for the manufacture of articles of intimate or near intimate use which exude fragrance and odor as an inherent part of such article.
It is a further object to provide costume jewelry, wearing apparel and sundry items having fragrances applied as a constituent thereof which neither alters, modifies or changes the appearance, surface color, or basic constituents of the material forming the article.
It is still a further object to provide a composition in which fragrances are an essential element thereof, so that it can be applied easily to any article or product in a manner to exude an aroma over a sustained period of time without changing or modifying the article or product in any way except to permit the exudation of said fragrance.
These objects as well as other objects will be recognized from the following description of the present invention.
According to the present invention articles are provided of plastic and/or natural substances, fabrics from which wearing apparel can be made, and sundry items can be fashioned so that combined with them or applied to them, is a polyurethane emulsion containing essential oils or fragrances.
In particular, the present invention provides a composition formed by the admixture under normal agitation, as with a blender or mixer, of between 3 to 33% parts per weight, of an oil fragrance in a thermally oxidated stabilized polyurethane comprising a hydrazine treated NCO terminated anionic prepolymer, until such mixture is homogeneous. Thereafter, the mixture can be applied as a film to a preformed costume jewelry, wearing apparel, and sundry item or the costume jewelry, wearing apparel, and sundry can be soaked or dipped in the mixture. Finally, the article to which the mixture is applied is dried.
The mixture of the present invention is clear and colorless, is without harm to the article or the material it is made of, and has a sustained release of fragrance over an extended period of time.
An extremely suitable polyurethane is that commercially available system known as WITCOBOND 232 supplied by the WITCO Chemical Company in New York. Such a system is of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,571. Another suitable system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,484.
Conventional oil based fragrances and odors in the form of essential oils, of any type may be used. When the polyurethane and essential oils are mixed under light activation, the oils are surprisingly solubilized having a particle size in the dispersed phase of oil of about .1-1.0 mu, in a clear homogeneous emulsion. In general, a lattice or dispersion having an average particle size less than .5 .mu.u is obtained. Under microscopic examination, the essential oils are uniformly dispersed throughout the matrix of the polyurethane dispersion.
The essential oil may be mixed with the polymer directly, although it may be preferred to insure a homogeneous emulsion that a surfactant be used.
Surprisingly, the mixture with this particular system is clear and adheres well to any substrate whether applied by film or bath and subsequently the fragrances in the clear film are released slowly over a period of 30 days to 180 days depending on the level of the essential oil and on the thickness of the final coating. A final coating of 0.5 to 10 mil. thickness being the most desirable.
The essential oils can be added at once or incremental levels to the polyurethane, again depending on the oil. The final mixture or emulsion has an indefinite shelf life remaining fluid for dipping, spraying, or other physical means of deposition over a long period of time.
Surprisingly, the film or coating even after drying is clear and shows no indication of any entrapped oil or fragrance. It is even more surprising that the resultant mixture of the polyurethane and essential oils is a homogeneous emulsion having very small uniform particles within the range of .1-1.0 .mu.u with the majority of such particles at approximately 1.0 .mu.u. This result is largely unexpected in view of the fact that polyurethane is a basically aqueous system while the essential oil is a basically non-soluble, in water, system. In large measure it has been found that the essential oils are in fact soluble in the polyurethane system under the light agitation of the mixing step. For this reason, coatings may be applied by spraying, dipping or otherwise, in layers of 1 to 5 mil. thick.
The resultant emulsion differs considerably from known systems in which fragrances have been sought to be encapsulated within polyurethane beads or the like. In the prior systems essential oils were not employed, but instead the fragrances encapsulated were alcohol or other ester based systems in which the essential oil had already been captured by a solvent.
A typical application could be the application of such a film on decorative jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, etc. In addition, the films can be applied to certain cosmetic packages to demonstrate fragrances contained in the container. Films by dipping or spraying can be applied to certain porous substrates to yield deodorizers, long-lasting scented or artificial flowers, etc.